The use of IP based communications devices for telephone and/or other communications purposes is becoming ever more common. A single user may use multiple IP devices, e.g., mobile handheld devices, home network devices, set top boxes, etc. which support voice and/or video communications and seek to use a single telephone number for the multiple devices. Another common scenario is that a family or group of individuals, e.g., corresponding to a single customer premise, may seek to share a single telephone number but use multiple different IP devices to make and/or receive calls between the devices of the group and/or devices on the public telephone network.
While a number of users corresponding to a group, e.g., household, may seek to share a common telephone number for communicating with devices on the public telephone network or outside the household, it would be desirable if they could interact with one another via their communications devices on an individual rather than group basis. For example, where family members might share a common telephone number, it is desirable that a family member be able to contact another specific family member device as desired. Similarly, while it might be desirable for a group to appear as a single entity to members outside the immediate group or network on which the family group's devices reside, it would be desirable if individual family members could easily obtain status, e.g., presence information, regarding other group/family members and their devices.
In view of the above, it should be appreciated that there is a need for methods and apparatus which would allow members of a group, e.g., family, to share a public telephone number but still communicate with one another on an individual device to individual device basis. There is also a need for methods and/or apparatus which allow for members of a group to see the individual presence status of other members of the group while also making presence information available for the group telephone number shared by the members of the group.